That Really Should Have Been More Fun

As they say, the NCAA Tournament went out with a whimper rather than a bang, a flurp rather than a woosh, a squat thrust rather than a jumping jack. Florida hammered UCLA to win the national championship last night, and some of you might have been lucky to have made it until the end. The Gators dominanted from the get-go, and if anybody occassionally flipped over to baseball from time to time, they could be easily forgiven.

But, alas, here we are, after all the dust of a month settled, and it turns out that Florida is the winner. It's really all about context. If Florida would have beaten, say, Duke, or Connecticut, we would consider them all heroes. But with upsets showing up in every bracket, Florida went from scrappy underdog to unlikely favorite. All the romance from the team was gone, which is probably for the best; we attach too much romance to sports anyway.

It's still a shame the game was so lousy all the same. If need be, forget about this last weekend and just remember George Mason. Or just move onto the next sports cycle. They set it up very convenient-like, that way.

We'd tell you who won our big Deadspin pool, but ESPN's site is down right now. May this be the only time we have to depend on them.

Charting The Championship [KenPom] So That Sucked [The Big Picture]